Banjo tail-piece



(No Model.)

GfVAN ZANDT.

'BANJO TAIL PIECE.

No. 433,970. Patented Aug. 12,1890.

made/@J UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE VAN ZANDT, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

BANJO TAI L-PIEC E.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 433,970, dated August 12, 1890.

Application filed July e, 1889. serai No. 316,723. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern: i

Be it known that I, GEORGE VAN ZANDT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook andvState of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Banjo Tail-Pieces, of which the following is a specification.

In a banjo tail-piece characterized by my invention the knotted ends of the strings are concealed by the tail-piece, but kept from contact with the parchment head, so as to avoid the jarring sound incident to the contact of a knot with said head, or to the tickling, so to speak, of the parchment head by the short free end of a string, which is usually left in tying a knot therein. To such end the tailpiece is provided with string-holding slots or notches along its forward edge portion, and

-in rear of said notches provided with one or more apertures or string-passages, so that the strings can be first carried from the forward end of the tail-piece back to the string passage or passages, then down through said passage or passages, and thence forwardly under the tail-piece. By such arrangement the knots can be drawn against the lower side of the forward notched edge of the tail-piece, while the strings will pass up through the notches and thence back a short distance to the passage or passages, through which they are carried below the tail-piece. The turn given to the strings by thus passing them through one or more passages back of the notches permits the strings to take a bight upon the tail-piece, and hence relieves to a great extent the strain upon their knotted ends and prevents pulling out of the knots or breakage at such points. Vithregai-d to this feature, the notched forward edge portion of the tail-piece can be either flat or curved; but as a further feature of improvement I curve or bend the same in a way to somewhat depress the forward edge of the tail-piece, thereby not only more effectively concealing the strings, but also permit ting the portions of the strings which extend forwardly from the passage or passages and which lie below the tail-piece to again pass through the notches, so that the strings will in effect finally emerge from the forward end of the tail-piece. In either case, however, the knots will be held at the forward end of the tailpiece, which will be somewhat raised above the parchment head, and hence contact of the knots and endsof the strings with the head will be avoided, it being a well-known fact that the forward end of a tail-piece when applied to a banjo is always the high end, owing tothe passage of the strings therefrom to the .top of the bridge.

As a furtherfeature of improvement I provide a rib which is arranged transversely across the under side of the tail-piece on a line just back of the set of notches, in which way the knots can be held under and concealed by the notched forward edge portion of the tailpiece and the strings carried up through the notches, thence back and down through one or more string-passages, and thence forward under the rib, which is of a diameter suflicient to cause it throughout its length to project below the space occupied by the knotted ends of the strings. The partial wrapping of the strings about the rib also serves to relieve the knots, the whole constituting an exceedingly simple means for permitting the strings to be readily attached to and detached from the tail-piece, since it will be an easy matter to engage the strings in notches along the forward edge of the tail-piece, and also an easy matter to pass them through the tail-piece and under the rib.

In accordance with the spirit of my invention the rib can be made substantially halfcylindric in cross-section, or it can be made rectangular or of any other desired form and provided with transversely-arranged grooves or separated bearing-surfaces, so as to sepa-v tail-piece with a downwardly-proj ecting dan ge or broad hook, which is desirably of a width equal to or substantially equal to the rear portion of the tail-piece, and which sets into a space or gutter formed between the straining-rim and a ledge thereon, as hereinafter more particularly set forth.

As a matter of course, the tail-piece can be made of metal, but I prefer forming it of hard rubber, ivory, bone, wood, celluloid, paper, or of any other known or suitable composition or material other than metal,

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l represents a section taken on a vertical plane through a portion of a banjo-body and a tailpiece applied thereto and embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a top plan of my said improved tail-piece; and Fig. 3 is a perspective view representing the tailpiece in an inverted position,so as to more clearly show its under side.

The tail-piece A comprises in its structure a plate a, which at its forward portion is of a width proportional to the aggregate widths of such spaces as usually intervene between the several strings of a banjo. The forward edge portion of this plate is herein shown curved downwardly and provided with a series of parallel string-holding slots or narrow notches a', which at their forward ends open directily along the forward edge of the plate. These string-holding slots or notches extend back from the forward edge of the plate to such extent that when the knotted end portions of the strings are introduced into said notches in a way to place the knots below the notched portion of the plate the knots will be concealed, as indicated in Fig. l, wherein the knot b of a stringB is directly below and held against the under side of the notched and downwardly-curved forward edge portion of the plate, while the main length of string which passes upwardly from the knot is carried through one of the narrow notches a. The plate is provided with a transversely-arranged rib a2, which is formed upon the under side of the plate and arranged just back of the set of notches a, This rib might, as a matter of inferior construction, be made separately from the plate and then secured thereto;l but as a much preferred way it is formed integral with the plate, so that the plate and rib can be formed in one operation, and thereby practically entail no additional cost in the manufacture of the article.

The rib herein illustrated is bent or curved forwardly, so that while the rear and under sides of the rib provide a bearing-surface for the strings the space between the front side of the rib and the under side of the plate or body portion of the tail-piece forms a longrecess, which provides greater accommodation for the knots, which may lie partially or wholly within such recess. The strings which are held by the notched portion of the plate pass back over a short portion only of the top of the plate, and are then passed down through the plate and thence carried forward, so as to pass under the transversely-arranged rib a2. The plate can be provided with any suitable arrangement of opening adapted to permit the strings to be thus carried under the rib; but to avoid weakening the plate I prefer to provide it with a set of apertures a3, which form separate string-passages.

The rib a2 is made thicker than the size of any knot which will usually be tied in a string, and it is also desirably made of such thickness that neither the knot nor the usual short free end of the string, which is commonly left in tying the knot, shall project below the lowest surface portion of the rib, and hence the knot will when drawn against the under side of the plate be pointed forward and of necessity raised from all possibility of contact with the parchment head; and, furthermore, the aforesaid short free end of the string will also be pointed forward and raised from all possibility of its coming in contact with the parchment head. The partial wrap of the strings about the rib also greatly relieves the knotted ends of the strings from strain, and thereby avoids the breakage frequently incident to strings at the point where sharp bends occur by their forward passage from string-holding notches. The rib, whether made half-cylindric in cross-section or of the curved form herein shown, can, if desired, be provided with transversely-arranged grooves for the strings, so as to separate the same, or the downwardly-curved forward portion of the plate can be bent down to such extent that the strings in passing to the bridge can pass through the notches, as indicated in Fig. l, in which way the notches, whether employed for holding the knotted ends of the strings orotherwise, will separate and guide the strings.

NVith regard to the portion of a banjo herein shown by way of illustrating the application of my improved tail-piece, C may denote the hoop, D the parchment head, E the straining-rim, and F a ten.sionhook,wl1ich is held by a bracket G and arranged to engage the tail-piece in any suitable way. The straining-rim E is understood to consist of an annular band or hoop provided along its outer side with a surrounding upturned ledge e, which sets out from the straining-rim sufficiently to provide between the two an annular space or gutter, and thereby permit the tension-hooks to be caught upon said ledge, as in my application No. 305,185 for Letters Patent of the United States filed on or about March 28, 1889. l

The tail-piece herein involved is provided at or near its rear end with a downwardlyprojecting flange or broad-faced hook a, which is shaped in conformity with the space or gutter between the ledge e and body portion of the straining-rim, so that it may engage in said space or gutter, as illustrated in Fig. l. The flange or hook a4 is preferably made integral with the plate a, and serves as a highly-efficient means for steadying and holding the tail-piece against the pull of the strings, it being evident that with such ar` rangement the service of the tension-hook F IOC or other like device employed may be mainly to hold the hook a4 within a space between the rim and a ledge on the outer side thereof.

lVhat l claim as my invention is l. A banjo tailpiece provided With a notched forward end portion and a pluralityT of string-passages back of the saine, for the purpose set forth.

2. A banjo tail -piece provided with a notched and downwardly-bent forward end portion having a concave under face, substantially as set forth.

3. A banjo tail-piece provided upon its under side with a transversely-arranged rib eX- tending below the under face of the tail-piece, substantially as set forth.

4. A banjo tail-piece provided with stringholding notches at its forward end, one or more string-passages back of the sanne, and a rib arranged transversely upon and extending below the under side of the tail-piece and located back of the set of notches7 substantially as set forth. j

5. A banjo tail-piece provided with a down- Wardly-curved and notched front edge portion and a rib arranged upon the under side of the tail-piece back of its notched portion, said notched portion being extended downwardly to an extent to permit strings passing under the rib to pass through its several notches, substantiallyas set forth.

6. A banjo tail-piece provided with a notched forward. edge portion and a rib d2, which is curved or recessed along its front side, substantially as set forth.

7. A banjo tail-piece provided With a downwardly-projecting flange adapted to eX- tend over the upper edge of the rim and engage in a space between the rim and a ledge on lthe outer side of the same, substantially as set forth.

8. The combination, With the rim provided along its outer side with a ledge arranged to leave a space or gutter between the two, of a tail-piece having a downwardlyprojecting flange or hook which engages in said gutter, substantially as set forth.

GEORGE VAN ZANDT.

Witnesses:

C. B. ScovILLE, J. E. HENRIQUES. 

